Government rations power

To avoid household blackouts as the summer heat pushes demand for electricity to its annual peak, Beijing has begun rationing power supply to factory operators' asking firms who do not have 24-hour production schedules to stagger hours, work weekends instead of weekdays and take one week off between now and August 14, The Standard reported. Last year, during the worst power shortage since the 1980s, 24 of China's 27 provinces and many of the major cities experienced black outs.